How to Make Time for Small (But Necessary) Tasks

by J.M. Olejarz for Harvard Business ReviewEveryone has those small but necessary tasks — clearing the inbox, making introductions you promised to, or filing the stack of paperwork. If you can’t delegate or jettison these types of tasks, here are two ways to take care of them efficiently:

• Batch your less important tasks. Do them all at once, creating a sense of momentum. You can park yourself at a local café and vow not to go home until you get through them. Or, meet up with some colleagues to work through your lists of boring tasks together.
• Employ a “small drip strategy.” Identify small blocks of time in your schedule, like 15-minute windows between phone calls, and use them to do low-value tasks. You can find these scheduling holes serendipitously, or deliberately schedule in a half hour of grunt work every day, perhaps at the end of the workday, when you have less energy for important tasks.

Adapted from “3 Ways to Make Time for the Little Tasks You Never Make Time For” by Dorie Clark